Breast cancer: Pathology review

64-year-old Cassie comes to the office because of a new breast mass that she found on her monthly self-examination.

A mammogram shows microcalcification clusters so an excisional biopsy is performed.

Pathology shows high-grade cells with central necrosis in the lumen and dystrophic calcification in the center of the ducts without invasion of the basement membrane.

Later that day, a 58-year-old named Linda comes to the physician's office with eczematous dermatitis of the left nipple and areolar area for the past 24 months.

Her history reveals that the lesion has been treated unsuccessfully with topical steroids and has progressively distorted the nipple, resulting in nipple inversion.

Physical examination reveals scaly, crusted, and deformed left nipple with multiple plaques overlying the surrounding areola.

At first glance, you’d think Cassie and Linda have nothing in common, but the fact is, they have different forms of breast cancer!

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and it’s typically seen in postmenopausal women, over 50 years of age.

Most breast cancers are adenocarcinomas and they typically arise from the terminal duct lobular units.

Breast cancer can present as a palpable hard mass, most commonly located in the upper outer quadrant of the breast.

Now, some breast cancers can be associated with amplification and overexpression of genes for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and HER2/neu receptors.

For your exam, you have to remember that these receptors are important therapeutic and prognostic factors of breast cancer.

In other words, breast cancers that are associated with overexpression of estrogen and progesterone receptors are more susceptible to anti-estrogen medications, such as tamoxifen.

On the other hand, HER2/neu receptors, also known as erbB2 receptors, are coded by the ERB-B2 gene.